Origin of the name ERASMUS.
Etymology of the
name ERASMUS.
Meaning of the baby name ERASMUS.

... The first Erasmus was tortured to
death in Diocletian's persecution, at Formici, whence his relics were
transferred to Gaeta, and he there became the patron of the Mediterranean
sailors, who used to invoke him as St. Ermo
or St. Elmo, at the approach of
a storm, and he thus was thought to send the pale pure electric light that
shimmers on the topmast, warning the sailor of the impending storm.
The name of Erasmus was assumed by the learned Dutchman, under the belief
that it translated his name of Gerhard (really spearhard), and from
him Rasmus
and Asmus
are common in Holland, and Rasl
has somehow found its way to Bavaria... (History of Christian Names,
Yonge, 1884)